Makati Shangri-La, Makati City
September 19, 2017

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte received the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Leaders, together with AIPA Secretary General Isra Sunthornvut, ASEAN Secretary General Lê Lương Minh, and this year’s AIPA President, Philippine House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, in a courtesy call at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

During the meeting, the President urged the AIPA Country Member Heads for a consolidated effort in building a unified partnership that is committed in strengthening regional cooperation and solidarity geared on prioritizing the region’s interests first.

“We have to have something more than just the substantial agreements, we must cooperate that before we export or import, and play into the field of geopolitics with other nations, we should on our own benefit first before other countries,” he said.

The President added that as Asians, the region is more attuned with each other’s cultural diversity, habits and values, and such unified cooperation could counter western hegemony.

In the same event, AIPA President Pantaleon Alvarez handed over a commemorative book entitled, “40 Years of AIPA”, to President Duterte.

Formed on September 2, 1977, the AIPA is a regional parliamentary organization that serves as the “center of communication and information among Member Parliaments” consisting of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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